“Penetrating and insightful . . . provides prescient forecasts and constructive musings on the future of the Episcopal Church.” — Publishers Weekly
“A fine study of the role of the American Episcopal Church between the Civil War and the Great Depression. . . . A telling reminder that there is no single narrative of American Christian engagement with American politics and culture. Recommended.” — Choice
“In a study both pioneering and fascinating, Peter W. Williams offers a cultural history linking wealth, status, and power to the aesthetic revolution that began during America’s Gilded Age.” — Anglican and Episcopalian History
“{A} thorough reflection on the interaction of the spiritual and the material in American religious history.” — Fides et Historia
“The specificity of the book keeps it fascinating throughout, as the author explores the inner and outer lives of many individuals and communities.”—The Historiographer
“Peter W. Williams, an emeritus professor of religion and American Studies at Miami University in Ohio, has written a book with a sophistication that belies its simple title. Religion, Art, and Money offers a wide-ranging history of Episcopalianism in the United States between the Civil War and the Great Depression.”—“The Kings Business”
“Nothing so captures this era of growing Episcopal self-confidence as Williams’s paean to the American cathedral movement. . . . Williams gives due attention to the contributions of women as well as men . . . and illuminates well the conundrum of Anglican identity in a pluralistic religious setting shaped by the formal separation of Church and State.”—Journal of Ecclesiastical History
“With great elegance and wit, Peter Williams examines the profound influence Episcopalians had on the United States as it reached modernity. This immensely readable book, replete with telling humor, gives faith a very tangible dimension as it masterfully takes up the crucial subject of the impact of religion on American culture.” — Anne Rose, Penn State University
“Religion, Art, and Money is a graceful exploration of the patronage and philanthropy of the Episcopal Church as cultural tastemaker and aesthetic arbiter in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Filled with lively characters and engaging anecdotes, this book reveals the unique religious contribution made by elite Episcopalians to the cultural history of the nation as it took its modern form.” — Thomas Rzeznik, Seton Hall University
